The Whitesnake vocalist David Coverdale recalled in a special video series posted on the band’s social networks (Transcribed by Blabbermouth) that he was once lucky enough to meet the late legendary actor John Wayne back in the 70s. The meeting happened when he was in Los Angeles to play with Deep Purple and he crossed paths with Wayne in a bar, deciding to ask for an autograph for his mom who was a really big fan.
David Coverdale recalls the time he met the actor John Wayne
“If you remember, there used to be a lovely dark bar at the Beverly Regent hotel called the El Padrino bar. And the amount of discreet assignations that went on there was quite remarkable. Anyway, I’m sitting there with our agent at the time, having a drink, and we have a show coming up at the weekend; this is Deep Purple. And I went, ‘Oh my God. There’s John Wayne, for God’s sake’ — John Wayne in the corner with this beautiful young blonde. Anyway, I’m sitting there tortured, going, ‘I should get an autograph for my mam. It would be amazing.'”
“And I’m going, ‘I can’t. I can’t do it. Oh, fuck it.’ So I got up, and I’m in those big snakeskin high-heel platform boots, and I wander over. And it’s happened to me a thousand of times. I said, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Wayne. I’m so sorry to disturb you.’ And the blonde just sort of looks away, like, ‘Here we go.'”
He continued:
“And he goes, ‘Yeah, kid.’ I went, ‘Listen, my mam’s a huge fan.’ I said, ‘Could I ask you for [your] autograph?’ He said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ And he got a coaster and he [wrote], ‘To Win. Love, The Duke. John Wayne’.” I went, ‘Oh my God. This is amazing. Thank you so much.’ He said, ‘What are you doing in this place?”
“I said, ‘Oh, I’ve got a show at the weekend.’ He went, ‘Really?’ And he stands up. And [he was] still a very imposing man. But his suits were kind of hanging off him; he’d kicked cancer. And he went, ‘What’s the name of the group?’ And I said, ‘Deep Purple.’ He went, ‘God, my daughter’s been driving my office mad. It’s been sold out forever. Could you do anything?’ I said, ‘Just a moment, Mr. Wayne.’ So I went over to the agent, got all the numbers for his office and came over. Then they asked me for my autograph. So I thought that was pretty spectacular,” David Coverdale said.